I understand that ... but, this movie had me shaking my head over and over again and believe me this is the first time that I've seen it and I'm just can't get over how bad it is. It's scary at times, it's laughable (moore times than you can chew), and downright too much of a movie that I can bear. I just had a hard time enjoying it and I understand some people can enjoy this movie ... and I do respect that and I just can't get over it. Remember this is the 1st time that I seen it and I just had a hard time enjoying it and it's done in a way that many people like you ... might like and even loved this movie and I do respect that and after time to think about for awhile that my first impression will be my lasting one.


That's why I did not enjoy it at all. It's just too much for me to bear.


It is a passable film with a numerical grade of 51 ... 50 is the lowest grade for a passable film.


I don't know if I'll ever feel the need to watch it again, but I can say it's definitely something that I think everyone should experience at least once.
6+/10

thwhtguardian wrote the stuff in italics and he gave it a 6+ ... meaning this movie is 60 plus and I've no problems with this grade and my grade is 5/10 and that's one grade lower than his.

Last nights horror movie was Adam Green's Victor Crowley from 2017. The 4th movie in the Hatchet series which in itself is a loving tribute to 80's slasher/killer movies like Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street. This one is funny and gory in all the right and proper ways you would expect and is the most "professional" of all the Hatchet movies which are low budget and straight to video releases. The star of the movie is Kane Hodder (of Jason Vorhees fame) once again on a killing spree as Victor is resurrected in the swamp after a plane crashes and a cell phone playing the voodoo curse that originally brought Crowley back from the grave. 

Lots of creative killings for Crowley (as expected) to deliver on unsuspecting (read as mostly dummies who deserve or should know better) people which is of course the reason for this type of movie. Head cleaving, brains falling out, faces slammed through broken windows, hammer in the head, belt sander (yes, a belt sander), decapitation, and the big death scene by airplane turbine. All the best in blood, guts and silliness and the only thing missing is enjoying the movie at a drive-in theater!

If you haven't seen them, rent the Hatchet movies as they are resolutely the most fun in a dumb and silly way, tribute to the most memorable horror villains of the 80's. Victor's hatchet can be held high right alongside Jason's machete, Krueger's bladed glove and The Shape's knife.

For the record, I don't care for Hellraiser and I'm not a fan of slasher films.  Sorry.

I've only seen the first one, and that was probably enough for me. It's less the gore/death and more the creepiness of the whole thing that is so disturbing. It's basically just everything cringe-worthy fit into one movie. Nothing is sacred. Undead uncles molesting daughters while looking like their fathers? Go for it.

Ahhhhhh, Day of the Animals was a perennial drive in favorite; double billed with Grizzly which I saw many times over the summer of 1977. Other fun ones in that vein of animal/revenge are Grizzly, Orca, Frogs, Tentacles, Bug, Phase IV and of course the big fish in the room: Jaws!

Speaking of double headers: last night was a double dose of Dan Curtis television movie greatness starring Darren MGavin as adapted by Richard Matheson. Our favorite sleazy tabloid reporter Carl Kolchak in The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler. I grew up watching these in the mid to late 70's (along with The Trilogy of Terror) whenever they would play. These are true classics in the mood and atmosphere and setting over gore/violence since TV standards limited what could be done. Cleverly written and well acted (full of cameos of faces well known from television and movies) the dark humor and creativity shines brightly, burning the frightful shadows of menace and terror into the mind. Once you view these 2 movies you can move on to the slightly lesser television series and enjoy some frightfully good dark and chilly fall evenings curled up mesmerized in front of your television screen in anticipation of screams to come.

House on Haunted Hill (1999)





Having just watched the original awhile ago and seeing this 1999 version last night for my 2nd time it's just not as good as the original in terms of originality and I felt that cast of this movie ... chemistry wise is erratic and the ending was totally bizarre and I just find it not my cup of tea.


I did enjoy Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, and Jeffrey Combs performances in this movie and I'm lukewarm on the performances of Ali Larter as Sara Wolfe and Bridgette Wilson as Melissa Margaret Marr for some reasons they did not click so well and I just find it hard to follow at times and the script is ain't good that bothers me a lot.


Many critics give this movie a B- to a B ... and I just find that shocking! ... The reason why I say that that this movie got budgeted for $37 Million and in the United States alone it's made $40 Million and another $2 Million elsewhere and the star power in this movie did not live up it's potential. This movie was made hastily and did not follow very well that lead to the ending of a ridiculous and this picture below ... I have no clue how they managed to leave?





Anyway this film was too fast to follow and I fell asleep in about 3-5 minutes in the latter part of the movie and had some difficulty getting back on track; but I managed to do so figure out the rest of it. Seeing both films under the same name the original is better than this. It had some moments and I felt that this movie had some gore that I just find it in bad taste and had some slasher themes too.


This is an average film with a Grade of C.

Thursday nights entertainment: another two-fer, this time featuring Barbara Steele. Found during the summer through a used DVD/CD store a 2 disc set of Steele movies:  Nightmare castle from 165 and The Ghost from 1963.

Nightmare Castle has little to offer outside of Steele herself. A Gothic, slow moving piece of black and white film which while interesting to have seen once, i doubt it will be watched again. Kind of a revenge movie with Steele being allowed to play multiple parts as a wife caught cheating on her scientist husband (she gets acid thrown in her face for her infidelity and eventual electrocution) and later on her descendant who is set to inherit the family mansion but is being slowly driven insane by her husband who wants it all for himself.

The Ghost in color  has Steele playing a wife who cannot bear to live with her wheelchair bound husband. She discovers that in his will after his death that all he is leaving to her is the ancient manor house they live in and nothing else. She knows there are jewels and she finds that the young doctor who had been caring for her husband has stolen those jewels. She slashes him to death with a razor and burns his body in the cellar of the manor. Slowly she begins feeling ill and her husband who she thought was dead appears alive and no longer disabled. She has been poisoned by her husband and the husband inadvertently poisons himself in toasting her pending death with a poisoned drink of Gin that Steele was going to use to commit suicide. She manages to lock her husband inside a secret room behind the bookshelf where she leaves him to die. She is herself paralyzed and gone quite hysterically mad from her husbands slow poisoning. The movie ends with a priest staring at the library wall with a portrait of the husband where the priest says: I told, you Doctor, the Devil is a very real person...and as the priest leaves you hear the muffled voice of the husband dying off locked within the hidden room. A bit more interesting than Nightmare Castle and color adds some nice atmosphere to the viewing but again, not a really great or outstanding movie.